(a) How made. An individual may submit a request for correction or
amendment of a record pertaining to him. The request must be in writing
and must be addressed to the component that maintains the record.
(Appendix A of this part lists the components of the Department and
their addresses.) The request must identify the particular record in
question, state the correction or amendment sought, and set forth the
justification for the change. Both the envelope and the request itself
must be clearly marked: ``Privacy Act Amendment Request.''
(b) Initial determination. Within 30 working days of receiving a
request for correction or amendment, a component shall notify the
requester whether his request will be granted or denied, in whole or in
part. If the component grants the request in whole or in part, it shall
send the requester a copy of the amended record, in releasable form, as
proof of the change. If the component denies the request in whole or in
part, it shall notify the requester in writing of the denial. The
notice of denial shall state the reason or reasons for the denial and
advise the requester of his right to appeal.
(c) Appeals. When a request for correction or amendment is denied
in whole or in part, the requester may appeal the denial to the
Solicitor of Labor within 90 days of his receipt of the notice denying
his request. An appeal to the Solicitor of Labor shall be made in
writing, shall set forth the specific item of information sought to be
corrected or amended, and shall include any documentation said to
justify the change. An appeal shall be addressed to the Solicitor of
Labor, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW,
Washington, DC 20210-0002. Both the envelope and the letter of appeal
itself must be clearly marked: ``Privacy Act Amendment Appeal.''
(d) Determination on appeal. The Solicitor of Labor shall decide
all appeals from denials of requests to correct or amend records. All
such appeals shall be decided within 30 working days of receipt of the
appeal, unless there is good cause shown to extend this period. The
appellant shall be notified if the period for decision has been
extended.
(1) If the denial of a request is affirmed on appeal, the requester
shall be so notified in writing and advised of:
(i) The reason or reasons the denial has been affirmed,
(ii) The requester's right to file a Statement of Disagreement, as
provided in paragraph (f) of this section, and
(iii) The requester's right to obtain judicial review of the denial
in the U.S. District Court for the judicial district in which the
requester resides or has its principal place of business, the judicial
district in which the record is located, or the District of Columbia.
(2) If the denial is reversed on appeal, the requester shall be so
notified and the request for correction or amendment shall be promptly
remanded to the component that denied the request for processing in
accordance with the decision on appeal.
(e) Delegation of Authority by the Solicitor of Labor. The
Solicitor of Labor is authorized to delegate his or her authority to
decide any and all appeals from denials of requests to correct or amend
records to other senior attorneys within the Office of the Solicitor.
(f) Statements of disagreement. A requester whose request or appeal
under this section has been denied shall have the right to file a
Statement of Disagreement with the Solicitor of Labor, U.S. Department
of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20210-0002,
within 30 days of receiving notice of denial. Statements of
Disagreement may not exceed one typed page per fact disputed.
Statements exceeding this limit shall be returned to the requester for
condensation. Upon receipt of a Statement of Disagreement under this
section, the agency shall promptly have the statement included in the
record and shall have the disputed record marked so as to indicate that
a Statement of Disagreement has been filed.
(g) Notices of correction or amendment or disagreement. Within 30
working days of the correction or amendment of a record, the component
that maintains the record shall advise all components or agencies to
which it previously disclosed the record that the record has been
amended. Whenever an individual has filed a Statement of Disagreement,
a component shall append a copy of the Statement to the disputed record
whenever the record is disclosed. The component may also append to the
disputed record a written statement giving the component's reasons for
denying the request to correct or amend the record.
